Susan Delacourt writes that we're entering the third quarter:
Studies of people who have experienced isolation in outer space and the Arctic have apparently found that humans get testy and emotional precisely when the end moves closer in sight — as it seems we may be here in Canada with the COVID-19 crisis.
“We have begun the dreaded third quarter of isolation, when — yes — things get weird,” read the headline on an Australian TV news website this week.
The third quarter is when things get nasty and people play the blame game:
In politics, it feels a little like everyone is sick of washing their hands — metaphorically speaking — and decided to get them a bit dirty again. Politicians are sniping at each other about gun laws, about COVID-19 relief and even about whose fault it is that the virus put us all in a lockdown.
The TQP, as it is starting to play out in Canada, could also be described as the naming, shaming and blaming game.
The nastiness has already started:
Blaming, meanwhile, is the lifeblood of politics in normal times, and perhaps we should be reassured that it is struggling back into the conversation around the pandemic as we hit the third quarter. As usual, there’s plenty to go around.
Trudeau’s government is being blamed for doing too little in some areas — on Tuesday, it was not enough aid for farmers. It is also being blamed for doing too much: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and several premiers are worried that its COVID-19 benefits are so generous that they create disincentives for Canadians to get back to work.
Blame is also starting to circle around China, thanks in part to Donald Trump’s efforts to pin the virus on where it originated, but there are also Conservatives in Canada who argue that Trudeau isn’t aggressively pursuing China and the World Health Organization enough for the spread of the virus. At his Monday briefing with reporters, Trudeau said the blame discussion is a topic for another day.
As for shame, Alberta’s public health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, lamented this week how immigrant workers in the province were being singled out for discrimination because of COVID outbreaks at meat-packing plants. She didn’t say who was doing the regrettable shaming, but we can assume it’s the same kind of people who have been staging tiny, angry protests against the lockdown nationwide — a “bunch of yahoos,” as Ford memorably described them.
“Employees at these plants should not be blamed or shamed for spread of the virus. We are all in this together,” Hinshaw said.
We really should be thinking about how we can do things better. But before we get there -- if we get there -- we're going to get nasty.
Image: Shutterstock
